This blog post has one purpose: to refine the vision for the Compassion blog.

That might mean we simply affirm what the blog’s purpose has been for the last few years. Or it might mean we come up with something new. Either way, now is the time to tell me where you want to go.

Tell me why Compassion should have a blog and what its focus should be.

It’s been four years since we launched. And in that time we’ve published over 1,600 posts from more than 150 authors, approved more than 26,000 comments, created waaaay to many tags (4,400), exceeded more than 1 million pageviews in a year, and left the million visitor mark in the last town.

We’ve run nine blog trips, celebrated our 1 millionth sponsored child, launched OurCompassion, responded to the earthquake in Haiti, enjoyed being named one of the Best Corporate Blogs in 2011, joined a few social networks, then joined a few more, grew our social media team beyond just me, and met tons of great new friends.

When the blog launched we defined its purpose as:

giving a behind-the-scenes view of Compassion at work and at play and exclusive looks at our child development ministry around the world.

That was our initial framework for running this thing and deciding what to post. I thought it was a good start, but I soon wanted more clarity.

I have always said that the blog is about you and what you want and are interested in, not what we want to give you. But what does that look like?

For years I’ve answered that question by describing the purpose of the blog as helping you feel more closely connected to your child. I’ve imagined it this way, like an archer trying to place the arrow as close to the center of a target as possible.

At the center are our children. Stories focusing on individual children aren’t just meant to be about that specific child. They’re meant to represent the friends your child plays with. And in the blessed instance when the story is about your child, we share with you the extra photos and information we have but didn’t publish.

Since it’s difficult to always hit the bullseye, we can help connect you with your child emotionally by providing insight into what life is like in a typical child development center in the child’s country so, by extension, you have a better idea of what your child’s daily life is probably like.

Sometimes the content we publish is meant to bridge the geographic distance by educating you about your child’s culture and traditions or it’s meant to strengthen the bond you have with our ministry: why we operate the way we do, how our programs work, who we are, etc.

Beyond that, we want to help you understand the broad issue of extreme poverty, so that poverty isn’t just a concept any longer but is instead has meaning in your personal life.

Then finally, when we can, we want to help foster your relationship with our Savior, which is why we’ve been sharing our employee devotionals with you this year.

Despite my effort to focus the blog on your needs, I can’t forget that our ministry is about releasing children from poverty in Jesus’ name. And we do that primarily through child sponsorship, which means we need to get more children sponsored and raise money for all of our programs. This adds another variable when determining what to publish.

Now that you have some of our backstory, what do you think about it? Is this the right place for the blog to be? What adjustments would you have us make to the content we publish? Am I even asking the right questions?

I love stories from the field! I love finding more about my child’s country and typical stories from compassion projects that might be “just like” my child’s. I love to learn more about culture. I love to learn more about staff working in those countries and what it is like for them to be the hands-on part of compassion. I love stories about the difference Compassion has made to grown-up sponsor kids. I love it when you explain why you do what you do – why you buy goods locally instead of letting us send presents over, how you make sure children are treated with dignity and respect in photographs and so on. I love hearing Compassion sponsor speak about their Compassion journey. I love having things explained to me that might not understand like how correspondence is processed or how procedures are changing. Oh, I could just go on and on…. I love the Compassion blog!

I love the days you give us specific ways to pray for our children….what is needed in their world. Two years ago I visited my son in Ethiopia-so even though I met him, spent the day with him, hugged him—I still find it hard to know what to write. My world is so different…I want to be able to guide him in what he needs in his world.

Prayer is such an important part of our ministry that we’re always looking for ways to incorporate it into the content we produce (e.g., prayer opportunities, topics, requests, etc.). And we want to start closing the loop on any specific prayer requests by having more updates after the fact. Thanks for your comment Linda.

I think the blog has been good. I have visited the blog many times in the last 4 years. The 1st child I sponsored was…I think in 1990… I stopped for a short time during collage and then started sponsoring a new child. It’s amazing to see how much more information is available today compared to 1990. I’m originally from Chicago and my mother has told me how Mr. Swanson would come around and visit her church in the 50’s raising support for orphans in Korea… it is quite amazing to think of the growth of compassion, and to think that many children sponsored 50 years ago must still be alive in Korea. It would be interesting to do more posts of the history of Compassion and to see the results of more children sponsored 30+ years ago.
But in general I think the blog has been very good… not sure I get the ourcompaion.com web page but the blog has helped me understand the world better. I now live outside the USA, think I life is more complicated than what we read on the internet. It would be interesting to really get inside the life of a project for a year with ongoing blogs… to really see the day to day struggles they have so we can pray for them better…like a diary. Maybe some place like the Philippines because they can write in English…. the blog gives me a general idea of how they live in a 3rd world country but I don’t really understand the day to day needs and feelings they have.
But the blog is great so much information….

I like Marvin’s idea about really getting inside a particular project, but with modifications: Focus on one project per month with however many blog posts the project staff could generate in that time. Next month, different region. In a year’s time, we would have focused on 12 projects, three per region–hopefully from 12 different countries, which comes to almost half of the countries where Compassion works. If this focus is successful, it could continue a second year to cover three more countries and projects per region.

Other countries speak English, as well, but I’m not sure that’s a criterion.

I have been deeply encouraged by your blog the last few months with the daily encourgement posts you have like Friday’s post about your future have just spoken to me so much in so many ways. I have just been so thankful to come here and be filled every morning about something new about God, especially through the last difficult months. I would truly love if you would continue those devotionals. I also love coming here to find out how compassion helps children, the stories of how when people meet children who have been sponsored and how that makes them come closer to Christ. Thank you for all the work you do on here, it really does speak to people, or at least to me.

The blog is great. You have thought of many different ways to enrich our understanding of what Compassion does and of what life is like for our sponsored children, including what poverty looks like up close and personal. I would like to also see blogs from some of the pastors and tutors. It would be great if you could post their blogs in English and include a link to the blog in the original language. Sometimes translation doesn’t catch the depth of meaning that is in the original. This would help those of us who also are able to read the native language of the blogger.

Hi, I am from Mongolia. The good news came in early 1990 first time in my country. However some churches help children. But still we need to learn more. If Compassion organization opens its branch in Mongolia then we are willing to cooperate.

We can pray with you that the opportunity for Compassion to open in Mongolia will emerge. I’m not on staff or any decision-making team, so I have no input, and I have no idea where they are next looking to open.

I think I can safely say that there are many countries where a ministry like Compassion’s is needed and where Compassion would love to be working. I think a post was published on this blog, some time ago, telling how those decisions are made, or what the criteria are; maybe Chris or someone on his team can dig it up and provide the link.

Bayarsuren — this is how we decide where we work… (Info taken from our website FAQs)

-God’s leading. Each decision about a new country is wrapped in prayer. No country is selected unless the responsible staff are convinced of God’s leading and blessing.

-Need. Compassion works in some of the world’s poorest communities. Local church partners then select the children in their communities who have the deepest need to participate in our program.

-Strong local church partners. Christian leaders and churches must be willing to invite our ministry into their country and competent Christians to staff country offices and lead projects.

-Risk management and legal issues. A country must not have legal barriers to our ministry. There must be a provision for international banking. Our work with the local church to encourage long-term Christian child development also must be understood and accepted.

I absolutely love the blog. It’s the first site I visit every morning. The glimpses into the communities where our children live, the stories of formerly-sponsored adults, the explanations of how you process letters, etc. It’s all wonderful! And the devotions this year have been fabulous! Such practical advice to us all. I think we all love to see as many kids as possible on here, and we search like a maniac every time there is a photo, trying to see if one of our precious loves is in there somewhere. I hope the blog continues, and that you will keep showing us more and more of Compassion, and all the ways it releases these blessed children from poverty.

I, too, love the blog and try to visit daily. I find it encouraging and it is like a daily reality check for me…counter point to all we hear in the local and world news and it balances my perspective on trials I may be experiencing. My absolute favorites are (in order): posts about formerly sponsored children (love to see what they’re doing now), posts about currently sponsored children, stories of sponsors meeting their children and posts from employees that explore a Bible verse or story (“Some time later the brook dried up” was like a personal gift to me). The only suggestions I have are to incorporate video wherever possible and I would also LOVE to see a different project featured weekly on the blog…photos of the project staff, the church, the classrooms, a group photo of the children , etc… I know there are SO many projects but it would thrill and inform people who sponsor in those projects to see them featured on the blog and help sponsors visualize more of their child’s daily life. It would also be a nice complement to the letters we receive from the pastors and project .Thanks to you, Chris, for all you do already to make the blog one of the best!

Off topic: Do some of you receive many letters from pastors? I think I’ve had exactly one, and we sponsor 15 children. Granted, we have added about half of those in the last three or four years, maybe less. Still…I have never had a letter from a pastor of any of the children I sponsor, or have sponsored, in the Dominican Republic, and one of my girls there has been with me the longest (tied with Tausi, in Tanzania, whose pastor has written).

Vicki, if you join Our Compassion (Compassion’s social network) you will be able to see pastor letters for everyone of your children. Go to ourcompassion.org and join up! You’ll also be able to have conversations and swap ideas with sponsors from all around the world. I’ve learnt so much and been very encouraged by my fellow Compassion sponsors.

As everyone else has emphasized, the stories from individual sponsored children are encouraging and help me put faces to the projects. Specific country information and updates are also cherished, as are lessons shared by fellow sponsors and the Compassion staff, whether from the US or Child Dev centers.

You are doing an excellent job providing a variety of material from different sources and viewpoints. I really appreciate your desire to improve in any way possible, and I’ll be sure to let you know if I think of anything novel. My one thought, or idea, would be to make a post encouraging readers to get on OurCompassion. It will be a much more effective way to build community if more sponsors are involved and sharing their lives and experiences together.

The more information I’ve learned thru the Compassion website & through this blog, the more children I’ve sponsored. Went from one to three, and hoping I can afford to sponsor more in the future. I’ve learned what to do, and what NOT to do (as in what to say & send to my sponsored kids). I sponsored a child in Brazil for 12 yrs until he aged out of the program. I wish I’d known then what I know now. I would have done more for him (child gifts, family gifts), would have written more often, encouraged him more. The blog (and bloggers I’ve found thru the blog) have offered so much insight into what Compassion is all about. I actively promote Compassion now, and pray constantly for my children and for the organization. I hope to visit my kids in person one day. I love seeing photos, would love to see more photos of the actual centers so we can see where our kids go. I’ve searched for that, but haven’t found much except when sponsors post after they’ve visited their child’s center. Would love to know what needs these centers have to be more effective in outreach, to draw more kids, and to ensure our sponsored kids visit often and gain maximum benefit from the center & from their sponsorship. Thank you for all you do.

I was in El Salvador in May 2012 t o see my sponsor child.8 year old Oscar.I have not been the same since I got home.What we are involved in here is of extreme importance.
I see how this ministry works from the inside.The team leaders and the country staff along with the partner churches work so hard together.How many ways are there we can do more?
For those of you who have not been able to see your sponsor kids just ask God to get you there.Each of our sponsor kids want to meet us.Letters and gifts are not enough.

I think the blog could be improved by sending my 10 year old daughter and I to Ghana and letting me blog about our experiences. My daughter would also be willing to write about meeting her sister in Ghana. (Yeah, BIG dreams!!)

I love the personal stories shared on the blog. They help me to learn more about Compassion’s impact around the world.

I would love to see more posts that:
~focus on letter writing and encourage sponsors to write.
~share specific children waiting for sponsors. (My heart goes out to those who are older or have been waiting longest.)
~share how regular people can help spread the word about Compassion. (For example, our upcoming homeschoolers’ Walking for Water fundraiser for Water of Life.) We can share the message of Compassion and help others learn all of the amazing ways CI helps!
~more videos about various projects or work in the field.

I love the blog the way it is. I enjoy visiting it each and every morning and of made it a part of my day and my ministry. The only think I would love to see is perhaps videos from Compassion’s Chapel or at least some of the message. It would be great I am sure to include sponsors, advocates, and leadership in some of these.

I love the blog! I agree with what others have written. It is the stories of the formerly sponsored children or current children that drew me into the blog initially. Then, I sought out (and still do) the blogs on writing and praying for my kids (and I love, love, love the blogs on how the mail process works). Now, I find that what I really appreciate are the stories of the people of Compassion – staff in Colorado, project directors, social workers, pastors, national directors, etc. I, too, would appreciate more information about what really happens in a project. What goes on? When do they meet? What is it like during school, or during school vacation? How can we pray for staff? And, if somewhere we could be reminded of when the school year is or a discussion of the various national exams and the stress (or how to pray) about that, it would be terrific. Thanks for all you do.

I have enjoyed receiving these stories in my e-mail daily for the last two years or so. They have given me a better understanding of what Compassion’s mission, goals, and core values are all about. They have also given me some more insight into what life is like for families living in other countries and the daily struggles that they must endure. The broad range of topics covered has kept the reading interest level high, and I think it’s fine the way it has been progressing over time. The recent change over with Our Compassion to the new system has been difficult for those of us who are not very techno savy, so please don’t do anything different with this. The old saying, “If it ain’t broke…don’t fix it!” is a good motto! It’s wonderful to come home from work daily and know that a great Compassion story will be waiting in my e-mail for some evening reading! And…at this point, it’s the only thing I can successfully find! Thank You! Compassion International is a top notch A + charity!

Thanks Lisa. I’m going to make sure your comment reaches the highest levels in Compassion. It deserves lots of attention.

For 2013 our plan is to return to one post a day for the most part. We expected, and have seen, that when the amount of content goes up the comments and sharing goes down. There is only so much information people can process in a day.

However, there will still be times when we occasional publish two posts a day.

oh i really like fiding more than one blog some days as it gives me something to go back to, or find new on your blog site as apose to on my FB page
I love all the letter writing idears and process. I would love to see the letter journey from a uk/ europe sponsors perspective. Is it any different. On that note i would also love to know what courer firm u use mostly so i can pray for them.
I think it would be great to see some of the most looked at/ commented on posts (oops there not called that anymore) transfered from OC to the blog as i have seen it said that some people who read the blog dont go on OC..

I don’t just feel like I’m always behind; I have fallen further and further behind in my reading of Compassion’s blog, since more than one post appeared, per day. I thought I would keep up better and be a more responsive participant, if I signed up to receive the posts in my e-mail, but that hasn’t worked. I don’t really feel like a member of this community, anymore, because of the time it takes to keep up.

(My alternate reply is, “Mmm…I don’t know, but that’s why they pay you the big bucks!” Also with a )

The truth is that you could conceivably give us five or six or ten posts a day and still not provide all the information, all the stories, all the insights that we all want and that you want to give us. But as you said, there is only so much that people can process in a given amount of time. I wish I could be really helpful with your question.

My reading depends on how busy my day’s been and since the post numbers have gone up I’ve found it easiest to skip the devotional ones as I have the book. When I’ve fallen behind I just click on ones that look the most interesting to me at the time.

Thank you for all the comments. Please continue sharing your thoughts and ideas with us. We definitely use them when we decide what to publish and what type of stories we ask our field communications specialists to write.

We also use your input to as evidence of what we as a ministry need to be planning for, content wise, in the long term. Ideas like a weekly spread on different child development centers creep into the area of workload prioritization, which make it more cumbersome to make happen. But the more you ask for it the more likely it is we can get it for you.

Overall, it sounds like the target and bullseye analogy we use is a good one and one we should continue to use.

I rarely comment but I read them every day. My favorites are what the first two comments said…Insight into the kids and their lives is really eye opening. My sponsored child in Tanzania wrote me once and said that before I sponsored her that she and her grandma were so poor that people would point and laugh at them in the street. I can’t get my head around this. The stories about the kids and the suggestions of what to pray for are awesome to help us understand and connect.

I like the blog the way it is, but I see a lot of ideas worth considering. I am not thinking of anything specific now, but I will ponder it. I do like the idea of blogs from a specific student center for a month. I don’t think whether they speak English is an issue. Vicki, when you receive the email alerting you of a blog, you can click on the title in the email, and it will take you to the actual blog.

Yep, Garry, I know about that–it’s the way I now access the blog, most of the time. In the past, I simply went to my Favorites and clicked on it, or entered from the Blog button on Compassion’s website.

I also joined Our Compassion when it began. I don’t get to it very often; OC was launched when I had finally become active on FB, and I had trouble managing two social media sites. Still do. It doesn’t help that, whether just going to OC or clicking on anything, to do or to read anything on any page within the site, everything takes an inordinate amount of time. I have assumed it was–and may be–the fault of my own computer system, although that has never changed, no matter how my system has been updated and upgraded. But it’s like slogging through molasses in January, or worse, working with dial-up. So I get discouraged about going there. :-/

Thanks Chris! I really look forward to the Compassion Blog. Both the stories and the devotionals have helped me and I have shared some with my pastor, family & friends. The information about sponsored children has helped me take my sponsorship more seriously and pray more for our sponsored children AND I finally made visiting our child a priority. I went to Rwanda this spring and now have 3 beautiful children that we sponsor in that country.

As a fundraiser for Compassion, I have really been thinking lately how nice it would be to hear stories from the field about kids in programs such as the Highly Vulnerable Children’s Fund or others that some never hear about. I believe that personal stories are what will touch people to help others, and that actually seeing a need through a more detailed story behind one of our kids would drive people to compassionate and caring responses.

Just a thought–I praise the Lord often for the work that He is doing through your ministry!

And Chris, thanks for your constant humility as the head of the social team!

I know this is covered, somewhere in all the comments and categories of posts, but there was one story about a child in the Philippines (I think). She was 12, at the time, and lived in a neighborhood that cowered behind closed doors; everyone was intimidated by gangs of kids who stole and destroyed and were violent.

This girl–I wish I could remember her name–decided to take action, and as I remember the story, took on a ministry in her neighborhood. In addition to her duties at home, her time at the project, and her attendance in school (and studying at home), she began inviting neighborhood children to a Bible study. She prepared these, each week, from what she had learned at the project and at Sunday school. She reached out to the very children who were terrorizing the neighborhood.

Oh, how I would love to read an update on that girl! She would probably be about 16, by now, and I’ll bet she’s headed for LDP!

I absolutely love this blog! I subscribe via email and read nearly every single post. It has inspired me to pray for our sponsored kids more, to get serious about letter-writing, and it has truly increased my awareness of world poverty. I so badly want to take a tour to see our kiddos, but cannot afford it, so in the meantime, I can pray. This blog has taught me so much and has inspired me to pray so much more for these kids. I cannot suggest any single thing you should change.

I just wanted to chime in after reading the post and all the comments. First, I like the strategy and the analogy used to describe it. Definitely makes sense. Secondly, I love the idea of a day in the life diary from inside child development centers. Even though I’ve been to Africa numerous times on mission trips and have a general sense of daily life, hearing first hand from those inside the centers would be eye-opening I believe.

this blog is awesome. as a teen, i get to actually be aware of events, disasters, and major changes in the world thanks to this blog that i read in my email. i get to pray for and share the pain of children and people who suffer in different countries. this blog is definitely encouraging and a blessing. praise God for this blog&compassion!

I’ve enjoyed the stories about the children and the success stories. I enjoy hearing about stories of my sponsor child’s area too. I just wanted to say I LOVE the picture of this child. He is too adorable! Makes me just want to hug him!

You should visit the GMC in Colorado Springs, sometime. You’ll see huge, framed photos of children whose faces will be burned into your memory. I remember one that was hanging in the room where we met at an Advocates’ Leadership Conference in ’08; I looked at that child, looked again, and couldn’t tear my eyes away. I was looking into the face and the heart of Jesus. The same photo might not do that for everyone, but I’ll bet there’s one, somewhere in the building, that does it.

I love this blog!! I actually have it as an RSS feed on my Freecause Compassion toolbar page I love the posts about sponsored children who are in the program or who’ve graduated. They’re so inspiring. But, I really love the whole thing

I love learning about my children’s countries! I love learning more about their daily lives and what they encounter and how compassion helps them everyday. I love reading about specific kids in the program as well as the impact we have as sponsors. I would love to see more articles about these things. It would be great to see more posts about country-related Compassion events such as how Christmas is celebrated in different countries at the various centers. I would love to see more highlights on giving opportunities, such as when everyone helped out to help Fatao receive surgery for his heart. I’m sure there are many needs that I am unaware of that I could help meet.

Another thing I would really love is see is more pictures! I really love seeing pictures of my children’s countries and kids in their centers. Even if my child never shows up in any of these pictures seeing these photos makes me feel more apart of their lives.

I love this blog! The content is awesome and always varied so it doesn’t matter where I sponsor a child. I am currently catching up on it as I didn’t read it while on vacation.

I tend to not comment so one blog vs two will not make me comment. But, I agree that I prefer one blog per day (or alternatively, on a CI bloggers trip one blog highlighted from the trip with a link to the other people’s blogs) is best for me. I’m sure you guys work hard on your blog entries, so putting a ‘regular’ blog article on the same day this blog posts a CI bloggers trip highlight sometimes means it takes me awhile to go read the ‘regular’ blog entry.

I love the videos whether they be from chapel, highlighting some aspect of the CI program at a church partner or sponsor/child interactions like letters. As I tend to check the blog when I arrive at work each morning, I would prefer to have videos posted on weekends when I can immediately watch them after loading the blog.

The day in the life of CI staff members have been interesting. While I have time to read all of the sometimes long entries, perhaps it would be easier on the writer and those looking for a quick read to just write an entry overviewing the planning and/or implementation of an event (say the annual Christmas party). On that note, I have also greatly enjoyed the blogs about how a certain holiday is celebrated in another country.

And, I write such lengthy comments that they seem like a blog post! It is hard to pick out what I like better than others since I practically always enjoy reading the blog daily.